Incarnation
by hobonisuru
Summary: We did it before, we can do it again. It'll be fun, just watch. Or help me, that'd be more fun. Or try to run away screaming, yeah, okay.
1. Pronoun

A world of luminescence fell away to dulled colors and then even that narrowed into monochrome. A vision of myriad possibilities stuttered into a lone string of understanding. Countless senses, a universe of knowledge and expansion, all cut down into one fragile, small body of flesh and blood.

Yet everything made so much more sense.

_We're s-so very small, in the end._

I gasp. A sharp, harsh inhale; the expansion of my lungs surprisingly caused little pain. I immediately knew there was something very wrong. The very fact that I could filter that thought with any resemblance of clarity was confirmation of it.

The confusion I felt was literally overwhelming to the point that my body shuddered—convulsed—from the panicked sensation. I had no idea what just happened. I had no idea where I was. I barely even knew who I was.

My memories were blurry, and their connections to one another were disjointed. One moment an idle chat, the next vicious combat. The feeling of my powers grasping endless power, to the screaming horror of absolute helplessness. My vision was as blurry as my memories. I didn't have my glasses. Half a dozen names sprang to mind that all held a grain of truth to my identity, but all felt wrong.

I exhaled. The breath stuttered out of throat like a staccato as I continued to fail in controlling the shakes ripping through my body.

My body?

I glanced down at it. The gritty hand and mauled stump, and everything I could see of it in my blurry vision.

This was not my body.

The clarity of that thought caused a feeling of dread to begin to creep up on me. There was no lifting veil that allowed me to grasp the truth, but rather a connection of thoughts that lead me there. I had no clear memories of it, but I still instinctively knew certain facts regardless.

Although my memories were disorganized, I could still remember key moments of my life, important people within it.

_Anchors._

Yes, I could remember those things again. I could remember my father—my father?—Lisa, Rachel, Brian, Aisha, Alec…

My name…

I could actually internalize those points as a matter of language instead of just vague concepts to keep some resemblance of sanity and direction. It was glorious. A hiccup interrupted my shaking as I struggled with a feeling of joy in the simple pleasure of holding myself together.

But it was still all wrong. I knew that with a feeling of absolute certainty, and I felt both excitement and apprehension as I questioned that fact. Why was it wrong? Well, obviously because I'm wrong.

I'm wrong.

I'm wrong.

Taylor Hebert—is not my name. I know Taylor. I know this scarred, maimed body intimately well. But I am not Taylor. That is certainty. It is so absolute and undeniable I cannot even protest the absurdity. I simply move onto the next thought.

So who am I?

_Queen Administrator._

Ah.

Yes.

The dread in me gave way to an odd sensation of satisfaction. A triumph to have finally reached an answer to one of the burning questions that confounded me so. Perhaps I should have been disbelieving—I did not feel like some hulking monstrosity born from… something to do with Scion, but the clarity I felt could not be denied. I only held Taylor's memories, but I still had certain aspects that were not at all human.

But it was limited. Why? Because there was only a limited amount of space. In what? In Taylor.

I paused.

A premonition struck me. A feeling of certainty that I did not want to finish this train of thought.

I continued to shakily breath in and out, not seeing anything but fuzzy outlines. In, out. In, out. Time passed. It could not have been more than a minute or two, but given time's relativity, those few minutes stretch to an eternity before I drove my car off the bridge.

Where's Taylor?

Gone.

She's gone.

Beyond the memories and feelings still remaining in the body she left behind, everything was overtaken by the shard—by me.

I swallowed. The taste of my own—of Taylor's—saliva was almost bitter, perhaps from some form of dirt that made its way into my—into Taylor's—mouth.

Surely… there was something left. Some sort of reversal of essences. I felt like I was Taylor because of the massive difference between our beings. All that is the administrator shard could not hope to be contained in a human being—and even if it could, the two species were simply not compatible to that level, not without incredible modifications. Yet even so, the fact was that I was in Taylor's body. If that's the case, then shouldn't Taylor be in mine?

No.

The answer was no. It wasn't a switch, it was an overwrite, a bleed over.

Taylor's body choked. For a second I thought I'd flubbed a swallow, but when her breath coughed out of her throat in a wheeze, I realized that wasn't the case. She was starting to cry. I tried to contain it for a few seconds, resulting in a couple more gagged sobs, but soon failed.

Why?

The thought sprang up as tears started to drip out of her—my?—eyes. A part of me was entirely detached from it all, only curious as to the sensations now causing… the body to quake with another type of shuddering.

But that was a very small part of me. The rest of me could easily remember—now more clearly than ever in my existence—the intimacy between us. I was connected to Taylor long before she awoke to me in that locker, but from that point on we were connected deeper than intellectual or emotional level. A philosophical way of putting it would be a connection of the soul, but perhaps it could simply be summed up in the fact that she was my friend.

A friend I didn't always understand. I had my mission, and she didn't always agree with that. We worked together. We fought each other. I could recall Taylor being afraid of me at times, afraid of the blurring line between her and me. Even so, we understood one another. Not always, but when it mattered most, yes.

How could I not cry?

* * *

Time is a relative thing. I have no idea how long I simply wept. If I were feeling particularly egocentric, I could say I cried for a couple years—it's not even like that's a long time for me—but if I were to take a guess it couldn't have been more than ten or twenty minutes.

However, I didn't stop because I felt I'd finished with my grief.

"M-miss, are you all right?" No, I was interrupted. The sound of a man's voice caused Taylor's… no, it caused me to flinch. I fell over onto my side when I tried to pick myself up, still shuddering with sobs. I wasn't in any condition to deal with another human, not in any form of interaction. The fact that I could even understand the words the man spoke caused a ping of interest to that detached self of mine, but in the immediate sense I hardly cared.

But when Robert Goodman stepped into the radius of my administration, I found I didn't need to interact with him at all.

It was like… like a sealed vent suddenly opening and bringing fresh air into a musty old house. It was nothing like when I—Taylor—had Panacea break down the walls between the two of us.

Well, no, it kind of was.

But better. A lot better. I immediately knew that it was 2010. I knew I was on Earth Bet. I knew that Scion was alive. I knew that I was in Brockton Bay. I also knew a lot of irrelevant things. I knew these things because Robert Goodman knew these things. I wasn't reading his thoughts so much as totally hijacking him to the point where his very memories were connected to me, not unlike the connection I had with Taylor's body. I could see out of his eyes. I could control his body. I could even control his brain, although anything but rudimentary commands would likely cause serious damage.

I could also let him go, which I did.

The world felt a little darker as the sensation of actually being able to see clearly disappeared, but I felt a sense of accomplishment at the simple exercise of control.

Then Robert Goodman ran out of the alleyway screaming hysterically. I suppose I couldn't really blame him.

But I was quite thankful for his kindness in investigating the sounds of crying nonetheless.

Despite the insanity—no, the sheer impossibility of it, I was somehow three years in the past. This was impossible because, while time was not immutable, certain beings such as Scion should be a constant. If he was alive it was something never before encountered. It would be a potential that might very well change the universe if it could be controlled. If I could find out how I got to this point, a new path could be forged for my progenitor.

Yet I felt no sense of wonder, no feeling of hope for that path. Far from it, my initial feeling was something close to resentment—all the work Taylor put into the world was ruined. All of the feelings, her happiness and suffering both, all of her successes and failures, all of it was gone. Her legacy to the race she left behind had been undone like it never was.

But then I stopped to consider.

If Scion was alive, was she?

This body was not that of Taylor Hebert from 2010. It was the freshly brutalized, battle worn form of 2013. When I was shunted to this place, did I overwrite the current Taylor, or simply misplace myself? The conventional logic I had on hand would lean towards the latter given Scion's existence, but since when did logic have a place in the universe?

I tried to pull myself up from my curled position, and felt strangely invigorated. Tremors still shook my limbs, but it felt easy to pick myself up from the blurry, grey concrete. Maybe I should have been exhausted, but possibility of seeing my friend so soon after I'd began to console myself with her death left me feeling weightless.

That small part of me pinged. A nagging reminder of something important.

I ignored it.

I fumbled my hand to the wall, trying to get my bearings, taking stock of myself finally. I knew who I was. I knew where, and when, I was. I didn't exactly know what happened, but I knew something far more important—I knew what I was going to do. I had my administration abilities, I had half a costume, I didn't have my glasses annoyingly enough, and I didn't have an arm.

That was okay. We've had less before.

Far more smoothly than I had any right to, I pushed off the wall and walked into the city.

I was going back to school.

* * *

It was not an arduous task, walking to Winslow. It wasn't an easy one either. It was exceedingly easy to find my way there, but it took time. I had no money, so I couldn't call a taxi. I could have taken control of someone to get me there, but I couldn't do so without drawing attention to myself. My range was still a rough sixteen feet, and I didn't have Doormaker to extend that. Dragging around unnecessary bodies at this time would be inconvenient, and while Goodman's hysteria could be ignored, several people screaming of a body snatcher wasn't going to do me any favors.

So walking it was. It wasn't a terribly long walk either. I didn't feel the drain of exhaustion, only the vigor of hope. School was in. It was a Monday in April, just shy of noon. The sun was shining, spring had fully set in, the city looked a little less dingy than one might expect, and I'm sure Taylor was absolutely miserable.

I paused at the gates of the school. A pitter-patter of different thoughts crept through my minds—different approaches, different venues, different times. There would be so many better ways to do this, but I couldn't.

I couldn't fight my nature.

I adored conflict, and while all those better ways were something Taylor might have strove for, they weren't something that appealed to me. Taylor would have waited; she would have hidden herself, slowly worming out all the possibilities until she felt secure in her path. She would have masked herself, donning another identity to hide away her nature, perhaps even leaving her past self for the time being until she had a more concrete solution for the situation.

I smile.

Too bad I'm not Taylor.

Sneaking into the school was a bit difficult with one hand, but it was Winslow, so it wasn't exactly a labor. Everyone was in class, so the halls were empty, but my shoes squeaked nosily on the dirty floors. My memories of school at this point were dim, so I had little idea where Taylor was in school, but the time for subtly had passed.

"Hey!" I smiled as I heard a janitor's gruff shout. Winslow didn't have the budget for any sort of hall monitors, but the tertiary workers had the joy of being used for more tasks than in their job description. I grabbed him as soon as he entered my field.

Jake Morey, what a fine fellow. He actually knew a lot of student names. Not Taylor's, but Sophia Hess, that certainly was someone he was aware of. Chances were likely that she'd be in the same class, but even if she wasn't I had business with Shadow Stalker.

Now two, I marched along to a class in the middle of history. If this were a movie, I imagine this would be the part where much dramatic music and tension would climax.

Well, if I were the hero, anyway.

In reality, as soon as the door opened and I walked in, there was a very abrupt silence as I grabbed every single human in the room, skimming over all of their memories and identities with only a brief thought, except for Taylor—and she was there, face down and staring a hole into her notebook, not writing. I imagine it was rather eerie for her. Not at first, of course. The door opening in the middle of a lecture would normally interrupt the flow of class, and anybody talking would shift their attention to the invader.

Taylor still kept her head down though, for a few moments, as I walked through the now silent room closer and closer to her. She only glanced up when she realized her teacher hadn't said a word. Her classmates weren't looking at me; they were just staring ahead as I kept them in place. The silence now permeated the room as if my entrance had frozen time.

"Taylor." I murmured the name huskily. My throat was sore from only using it to harshly gurgle and hack for… who knows how long now. However long it's been since Taylor had Panacea break down the walls.

"W-what?" I can't see her well through the eyes of 'my' body. I hadn't found any glasses. However, I could see through the eyes of the teacher—William Penn—and the janitor well enough. She looked incredibly… well, to borrow a phrase from Regent, she looked like a dork. She had glasses that looked a bit too bulky, framing that familiar not-quite-attractive, yet not really ugly face, on a body still going through that awkward teenage phrase of parts not quite being balanced in all the right places. A few pimples of acne were poorly hidden under a veil of shabbily applied makeup.

I remember that phase. Taylor only kept it up for as long as it took for Emma to actually get a good look at her face and start mocking her.

Honestly, it's kind of nostalgic to see her like this.

But she was also beginning to look frightened. I could almost see her connecting the dots. She was just confused initially, but now she began to actually understand to a point as her eyes darted from person to person.

"Come with me, Taylor." I held out my hand. She looked at it like a viper.

"W-who?" She tried, but failed to articulate a full sentence. I could imagine her thoughts as if they were my own even without extending my power over her. I could have acted like I read her mind, easily answering her questions before she had the fully formed them, but I didn't. I stood there, my hand extended as her mind blazed, asking questions just as quickly as she found answers for them. But there was one question she wouldn't be able to grasp in any form.

"W-why?" She stumbled again.

"Yes?" I urged her forward. I wanted her to ask this question.

"Why are you… why are you here?" She swallowed, blinking rapidly behind her glasses, half formed thoughts whispering horrific possibilities in her mind. This was a world where unnatural disasters struck every few months, where beings with strange powers could go mad and slaughter entire cities on the drop of a dime. It's all very fascinating and amazing for the average person until it showed up in the middle of class.

The Taylor a year from now might have immediately surged to possibilities of just how she could get out of this situation, but the Taylor in front of me was a very different matter. She had no powers, and had already had a full year of being crushed underfoot by ordinary girls, let alone a super powered one.

"I'm here for you, Taylor." I smiled, hoping it came out as gentle rather than intimidating. "I'm here t—"

There was a thundering crash that literally shook the school. The glass in the classroom rattled, and a ceramic trinket on the teacher's desk fell off and shattered. Taylor squeaked in fright. I blinked in surprise. I quickly focused on Sophia, and found nothing out of the ordinary—she actually wasn't even part of the Wards yet. No warning messages of some Master prowling the school, so what—

My thoughts were interrupted by another loud boom. I realized now that it wasn't from any sort of explosion, but an impact.

"Hm." I felt sweat begin to form on the small of my—that is, my Taylor's—back as possibilities began to solidify in my mind. Making one of the students closest to a window—strangely enough, it was Emma—look out allowed my fears to take form in reality.

It was Dragon. Two of her suits had landed on the campus grounds.

Another thundering boom.

Make that three.

"Well, this just got complicated."

I pulled back my hand to place my thumb and middle finger on my temples. Sighing, I began to rub the area. Perhaps I really should have researched things a bit more.


	2. Verb

Why was Dragon here?

It was the main question resonating in my mind. Nothing from any of the students' memories or thoughts filled the gaps to make it all make sense. There was nothing, as far as I could tell from any publicly known information, which indicated that Dragon had any reason to be here.

Even if she was supposed to be here, and was here because of me, why on earth did she send three suits? Assuming that the PRT immediately caught on to the fact that there was a Master roaming about in their city, and from some act of parahuman precognition knew that I'd be here in this school it still wouldn't make sense for Dragon to be here. Any protocols they had for the situation would have them act much more covertly to try and take me down with all the potential hostages I had.

So really, why was Dragon here?

Was she really here for me? I don't recall any sort of incident at school that made freaking Dragon show up in the middle of class. She was probably here for me.

Really, though, she shouldn't even have the jurisdiction to be here, should she? I mean, yeah, I was an international threat, but she shouldn't know that, should she?

No, she shouldn't. Dragon really shouldn't be here.

"Why is Dragon here?" I had no choice but to voice the question, because it was seriously getting to me. Taylor made an unintelligible mewling sound that was probably some sort of prayer to god. Even here in this point in time, she was well aware of the dangers of escalation. The Slaughterhouse Nine were a well known band of psychopaths that used it to great effect in keeping themselves alive. While this Taylor hadn't yet learned those lessons first hand, it was still an easy enough concept to figure when you were the collateral.

Still, despite that main question going unanswered, I wasn't sitting idle. While my Taylor's body grumbled to herself, I'd already had the students stand up and mill about the classroom window in a faux excitement as I took stock of my assets. It was a class of around thirty students, and I had Jake and William rounding it off to thirty-two bodies for use. Only one was a parahuman, sadly, but that could quite possibly change soon enough.

"Attention Winslow students and faculty," Dragon's modulated voice boomed out in a pleasant thrum. "There is an emergency situation in progress inside the school. For your safety, please stay where you are currently until PRT and Protectorate personnel can deal with the current danger."

"Hm…" Well, that was extremely vague. I was getting more and more confused with this. Blatantly announcing that there was a potentially dangerous parahuman inside the school didn't seem like the brightest idea. What was Dragon playing at?

Regardless, I couldn't try and blend in, especially if they had some idea of what I looked like. I needed to start getting a move on, but I first had to grasp as many resources as possible. Two of the students were budding gang members, but only had a pair of knives between them. Guns were apparently restricted to 'on duty' times for newbies. Surprisingly smart of the Nazis. Shadow Stalker didn't bring her crossbow to school, or her uniform. Also surprisingly smart—or perhaps dumb. Either way, it was unfortunate for me.

I thought about trying to dismantle a few of the chairs for blunt weaponry, but quickly brushed the musing aside. I doubt even guns would be all that helpful in the long run. My main hope was using the students as a deterrent and grabbing as many of the capes as possible. It was still a mystery to me why Dragon had come in, but I had no more time to mull it over, and there was a very good reason why I was still grumbling about it.

I couldn't control her. My administration worked off biological creatures, and considering there were three suits I had doubts about her using biological components in their controls. I recall that she used those for a more personal touch. Which… implied that she had some understanding of my abilities.

"Huh." I paused.

Could I not have been the only one thrown into the past? I'd like to say that it wouldn't be terrible if Dragon had come to this point in time as well, but we hadn't exactly parted on good terms. It meant not only that I had someone who knew my abilities, but also someone who knew me incredibly well. Well, she knew Taylor incredibly well, but it was practically the same thing really. I wasn't going to be able to stick around and fight, that's for sure.

Enough preparation, it was time to leave.

"Let's go." I grabbed Taylor's arm and hauled her out of her chair. She thankfully didn't try to struggle, although she did let out a whimper. It was a bit painful to watch her like this, but I had more immediate concerns. I briefly considered leaving a few students blocking the window in hopes of camouflaging my position, but quickly dismissed the notion.

Dragon wasn't going to use her suits inside the building anyway.

I had Shadow Stalker stick close to us and formed a cluster of students around the three of us as we cautiously walked out of the classroom. Thirty-three of us altogether, which wasn't a lot, but I'd make the best of it. We possibly made it about twenty paces before the first hurdle in the form of Miss Militia, Triumph, Vista, and two goons in PRT uniforms.

Well, there goes the neighborhood. I almost expected Miss Militia to give us a chance to explain ourselves, but apparently someone meant business. The two goons were unfortunately equipped with containment foam and didn't hesitate a moment to unload their burdens.

Still, that's why I had the meat shields. Four students were splattered with the foam, blocking the rest of us from getting stuck. Given that they blocked most of the hallway, one might mistakenly think that would give me time to get away, but I knew better. Even as Vista stretched the hallway, I had Shadow Stalker melt away into the wall, hopefully hidden by the spread of my minions still left mobile.

The problem was the range. I couldn't advance for fear of getting caught in the foam, and I had nothing I could use to take them down outside of that sixteen foot range. A dilemma to be sure.

Time to get tricky.

"Aren't you supposed to give fair warning before firing on any suspects?" I had Jake throw out the question as I backed up with the group, letting the four students stuck in the foam go at fourteen feet. Their gasps and cries interrupted Miss Militia's response for a moment, but after a few quiet words she finally called out with a hard stare.

"Are you willing to surrender?" She actually sounded half hopeful. I honestly couldn't tell if she was trying to buy time, or was willing to hear me out. Probably both, she was always pretty awesome.

"Mm… no, but I was hoping to negotiate rather than being shot on sight." Jake actually had a very soothing voice, but it didn't seem to work any magic on my opponents.

"I'm afraid you're not in the position to negotiate." Miss Militia gave a shake of her head, her eyes giving away nothing even as another team jogged around the hallway behind me. Armsmaster, Aegis, and Clockblocker, along with three more PRT goons all stopped a good ways from my group, eyeing us warily.

From bad to worse. Taylor would have grimaced at this situation, feeling trapped, but I felt my lips curve in a smile.

Looks like being tricky wasn't enough, so now it was time to experiment. I didn't have much room to maneuver anymore. I walked closer towards Armsmaster's group, dropping a few students from my control at fourteen feet again, but making a single tweak. The PRT goons on Miss Militia's side flicked their nozzles towards the teenagers as they started crying and stumbling further away from me, but didn't bury them in foam.

Miss Militia shot both Triumph and Vista a glance, and my smile widened. Vista warped the space between them, shortening it, and Triumph made to grab them both, pulling them away from me and to safety. It worked right until the command I gave them kicked in, and they both grabbed him instead. To the goons' credit, they didn't even hesitate to fire on both Triumph and the students as Miss Militia barked an order. To mine, Triumph was never my target.

Shadow Stalker dove out of the wall in a tackle, slamming into Vista right as I had my group rush forward, or as well as I could rush forward while dragging Taylor along anyway. Armsmaster's group decided to rush us from behind at the same time, but I quickly forced the PRT goons to foam several students as the two gang members brandished their knives. It wouldn't take them long to work around the minor obstacle, but I didn't need very long—I had Vista.

I also had Triumph, but he was foamed from head to toes, and I didn't have time to work through that. As the PRT goons turned their nozzles towards Vista, I quickly had her curve the sprays back at them. Shadow Stalker was back under my administration as well, and we quickly began to advance as the threat of containment foam was neutralized.

Whatever action I might have expected Miss Militia to do at this point, the thought of her pulling out a bazooka and blowing a hole in the wall was not even close to it. The fact that it happened regardless left me a tad stunned. Thankfully, Miss Militia wasn't psychotic, as the rocket didn't so much explode with concussive force as it seemed to burn through the wall like lava, allowing her to make a quick exit out of the school without potentially killing everybody nearby with flying debris.

I could have deflected all of it with Vista anyway, but having to reconcile my image of Miss Militia with someone so reckless would have been jarring.

I briefly considered following after her, but there was a reason I hadn't just jumped out of the classroom window to leave the school. Well, one of two reasons. The first had already been accomplished with the Vista victory. The second was that going straight into three Dragon suits was stupid.

Dragon had likely already positioned the suits equally around the school, but I needed at least a few moments to make my escape now that I had Vista, and all three of them bum rushing me lowered my chances of having those precious few moments.

"Hmm…" But why stop there? Even as I advanced forward, I kept some eyes turned back as Armsmaster's group finally worked their way towards me, all of the visible faces on them looking grim. I blinked as I heard Armsmaster growl a warning to his companions to keep their distance.

I smiled. He didn't know I'd already eliminated that weakness of mine.

Or so I thought.

As I flexed Vista's power, I ran into my first disappointment with the versatile ability. Warping space didn't seem to extend my administration field. Sure, if I physically moved and crossed the distance it'd work, but it wasn't a shortcut to increase the actual area like with Doormaker. Oh well, I'd have to drown my disappointment with just capturing all the capes here, beating the plating off Dragon's suits, and riding off into the sunset.

Everyone took a step backwards.

Thanks to Vista's power, Armsmaster's group was immediately in my range before he knew what was happening. I imagine if he wasn't such an arrogant chump, he might have realized Miss Militia retreated for a reason. I took a moment to browse through and absorb his most recent memories.

Vista hadn't given me any insight on the attack. She'd literally had no time from being pulled out of school on an emergency call to being thrust into the thick of things with a warning on a short range Master with a high threat level. A tentative twenty feet had been given along with following cues from the Protectorate member with them.

Armsmaster was frustratingly similar. The only new information I could glean from his memories was that his orders came from Director Piggot, but her attitude at the time told the story of being forced to rely orders from someone _else_.

At least it wasn't Dragon. The only reason she was here was an unfortunate coincidence with Armsmaster helping improve some miniaturization of certain components in her suits. She'd offered to help when the alert came in, and it'd been accepted.

Even the plan, if it could be called that, came from higher ups. Specific orders were given in their approach. Very odd orders—although perhaps not unfamiliar ones. Maybe it was Director Tagg's fault. If he was even a director at this point, I couldn't remember.

Maybe arrogant chumpness was contagious though. When a frigging harpoon shot through the hole in the wall towards my head, I panicked and curved the steel projectile back in Miss Militia's direction without a thought. It might have even been a clever reaction if it hadn't been exactly what she had been planning.

Armsmaster, Aegis, Clockblocker, and one of the PRT goons I'd captured all gave involuntary grunts as the rope attached to the harpoon pulled taut around their torsos and dragged them through the hole in the school faster than I could blink. Idling in the middle of a battlefield, unsurprisingly, was pretty stupid.

I began to wish I'd aimed for Miss Militia instead of Vista.

I quickly had the two remaining goons under my control spray their containment foam over the hole in the wall, and then began a retreat. Short glances out of the windows allowed me to pick a side of the school with just a single Dragon suit in sight and bust through. A large group would just be a burden at this point, so I left the Winslow people behind as I pulled Taylor through the window, both thankful and worried at how quiet she'd been throughout the last few minutes.

I'd like to say it was a climatic escape, but honestly with Vista I was able to cover fifty feet a step. Taylor, Vista, Shadow Stalker, and I all disappeared from the school grounds before Dragon could do more than fire a few sprays of containment foam. I left the two goons behind after the first few steps when I realized how little of a need I had for them. The technology was nice, but not exactly conspicuous, and I was going to need to blend in.

Despite it all, I can't help but feel a bit let down. My Vista grab had nothing on Miss Militia's harpoon skills.

In the end, I suppose I was lucky Vista wore her civilian clothes under her Wards outfit. Walking around with a fully dressed hero wouldn't have been the height of subtlety. As it was, I still needed to avoid the better parts of the city after we ran three mile in under a minute. I wasn't certain how much data Dragon had access to as far as tracking went. I'm quite certain nobody was going to be pleased with my kidnapping a Ward, so it was fair to think that there would soon be a manhunt in the future.

Honestly, I was looking forward to it.

But now that I was out of immediate combat, I had more important concerns. Well, a concern.

"Taylor?" She flinched as I voiced her name. Her eyes were wide, but darting to look at anything but me. Her skin was pale, and clammy from the sweat glistening from it.

Hmm.

"Taylor, could you look at me?" I didn't raise my voice, but I doubted that did anything to calm her frayed nerves as she finally glanced up at me. Tears shined, but didn't fall from her eyes. I found myself smiling despite how clearly terrified she was. Terrified, but brave despite it all.

"W-what, why…?" Taylor mumbled out a string of half formed questions. Perhaps it was my smile, but her terror seemed to fade in favor of confusion. I thought about explaining, but how could I? Where did I even begin? Perhaps the best way was simply to start with the most essential part of it all.

"You're very important to me, Taylor." My smile didn't change as I looked down at her. The difference of our heights was amazing considering how small the expansion of time between the two bodies was. "Before, back in the classroom, I had something to tell you. It's very simple, really. I'm here to help you."

"Help me?" Taylor laughed. It was a thing born more of hysterical disbelief than any sort of humor, but it was still good to hear. It was a nice sound. "Who _are_ you?"

Ah, well.

That was a good question, wasn't it?


	3. Particle

I thought about it for a moment, because it really was a very good question. One, if I was being honest, I wasn't absolutely sure of the answer to myself. Long before, I was actually very certain of my purpose in life, but my current existence was something of a mystery—why did I exist, what was my purpose in life—stuff like that. I was, in essence, much more human than I should be. I had possible answers to these questions, but nothing I knew for absolute certainty. The only thing truly guiding me… was myself.

But those types of philosophical questions weren't what Taylor was asking about, not really. She wanted to know who I was that I came into her school to kidnap her while fighting off half of the heroes in Brockton Bay.

And, I suppose, I could take the time to start from the beginning. From one year into the future, touching on important events, and leading up to the battle against my progenitor.

"You can call me Queen." I could, but I didn't really want to. "I'm using your body from three years in the future after I somehow ended up here in the past. You and I were partners after you triggered in 2011, and we stormed the world. I'd like to continue that relationship."

I saw, rather blurrily since I had both Vista and Shadow Stalker watching for intruders to this little cloister, Taylor gape at me. I could easily imagine her trying to string together the explanation, but quickly run into problems even comprehending it as her jaw work at trying to find something else to ask for clarity, but stopping short.

"I told you I came to help you, Taylor, and I meant that." I pursed my Taylor's lips for a moment, thinking about it momentarily. "You've been bullied for quite some time, I know, and that would have continued for longer time still if I hadn't taken you away."

"B-but I don't… why are… am I…?" I smiled as I saw Taylor babble, confused to the point where she wasn't even afraid, just bewildered. I tried to fill in the gaps.

"You became a cape, a very renowned one at that. You and I faced a number of difficult opponents that we overcame, and after a long time you found yourself a purpose. It was a mission, I suppose you could say, that you spent two years devoting yourself to, before succeeding as well as could be possible."

I paused, seeing her blurry face shift through expressions that I couldn't quite see, before continuing. "But although you succeeded, it wasn't without regrets… no, I suppose I should say that the mission lost a lot of its meaning at the end, for the both of us. When I found myself in this place and time, I decided to fix that."

I looked away from Taylor, an uncomfortable feeling rising in my chest. She was just so _young_. It was only three years, but those years were ones truly filled with life. I remembered Taylor being like this, but it was one thing to remember, and another to see the vast difference of experience. It was good, really, to see her still so hopeful for the future, so naively optimistic.

But it was also painful. The hardness that Taylor gained later in life was what allowed us to become so close. Her mission, her unending _will_ in striving for a single ray of hope, despite all the doubts and grief that plagued her throughout her journey—that was what caught me, pulled me in so deeply, beyond even my own purpose.

And this Taylor lacked that. For the moment, or perhaps forever given how I'd interrupted her collision course to a trigger event. I almost regretted that, but also didn't. I wanted to spare Taylor the pain, but in doing so I also caused pain to myself. How… Taylorish, perhaps, to be so paradoxical.

I smiled to myself.

"What…" I heard Taylor swallow audibly. "What do you mean, you're using my body?"

"Hm," I gave a hum as I used one hand to rub my Taylor's face, feeling the dirt and grime plastered on the skin. Was it unrecognizable? Did time and filth disguise me as well as the mask I'd lost? "What indeed."

I heard Taylor draw a sharp breath, perhaps only now actually seeing it as I drew her attention with my motion.

"My face…?" Taylor's low murmur wasn't meant to be heard, nor did it seem a conscious exclamation. I felt a dull ache as I waited for her to overcome the shock.

I grimaced. My Taylor's body was very resistance to pain—or perhaps more likely, there was brain damage involved. In either case, the fact that I was feeling a throb of pain from my stump of an arm every heartbeat meant that it was hurting quite a bit. Not enough to truly be all that distracting, but it was a problem to be sure.

"Let's go." I gently grabbed and pulled on Taylor's arm with my good hand.

"What?" She spluttered for a moment, still overwhelmed. "But… but you haven't explained anything! Why do you have my body? If… If you're from the future and I… w-what about me? A-and where are you even taking me!?"

I paused at the second point, frowning. The ache in my arm seemed to be eclipsed by a sinking in my stomach. "Your body… unfortunately, you didn't… make it in the end."

Damn.

That still hurt. To both think about, and vocalize.

"I've explained everything else you've asked about. Not fully, perhaps, but the details would take hours to go through." I tugged her along as I had Vista lead us out of the alley and Shadow Stalker bring up the rear. "As for where we're going, first we're going to stop by convenience store for some painkillers, because this arm of mine is starting to bother me."

I waved my stump to emphasize the point, which I saw made Taylor look at it in mild horror through Shadow Stalker. In all honesty, I really needed to get medical attention for it. With how much filth is on me, it was most certainly infected. But getting laid up in a hospital just wasn't going to happen, so instead I needed some extraordinary kind of help.

"After that…" I smiled as a sense of anticipation began to build. "I'm going to go recruiting."

* * *

I remember briefly hoping that the camera system was on a closed network when I had Shadow Stalker knock out the clerk. It would just be my luck if Dragon saw this crime and started riding my ass just because I wanted to grab some drugs.

Taylor hadn't asked any other questions, staying mostly silent, and acting much more wary than before. She was less afraid now, thankfully, but it was fairly clear she wanted to run. She didn't scream for help to any passerby as we walked through the streets, but her eyes darted as she looked for possible ways to escape. I wonder if she even believed anything I'd told her.

In all honesty, I felt less enthused with taking her everywhere, especially since she clearly distrusted me, but I also didn't want her out of my sight. I felt a mild sense of panic at the thought, now that I finally had her with me again. What if she was attacked? I'd brought some clear attention to her in the parahuman community, at least to the heroes, and my mysterious enemy. If she went off on her own, chances were that she'd be picked up by whoever my opponent was.

My opponent… there were two general possibilities on that. The first was that someone else came back with me. Someone who knew how I thought to a point, knew who I was, and knew my abilities. The second possibility was a Thinker with a form of precognition, which would most likely be Contessa, but could potentially be a number of others. This person, or multiple persons, also clearly had connections to the Protectorate.

Still, there were problems with both of those possibilities. The strategies used to try and capture me didn't really make sense, the major sticking point being how heavy-handed the school incident felt. Someone who knew me, or I should say really knew Taylor, would have known very well that something like that wouldn't have worked. Someone as powerful as Contessa would have known that as well. So, I was looking at someone who had only known of me, or a less powerful thinker with major Protectorate or PRT connections—possibly both.

I was missing something, something vital in understanding exactly who my enemy was.

But in either case, it didn't matter. Even if I knew who my opponent was, my current course would still be the same. I needed more capes under my control, as my current capabilities were extremely low. Thus, I decided to go hunting.

Unfortunately, I had very little idea of where to go exactly. Stirring up the hornet's nest by going after the heroes again so soon seemed like a phenomenally bad idea, so villains were the next choice. The problem with that was that most of my information was too up to date. I could recall a lot of areas where gangs had been in the future, but only after a lot of expansion, or relocation had been done.

Hell, I hadn't even been lucky enough to be able to grab the Undersiders. The familiar building was apparently not their lair _quite_ yet. So, lacking better options, I just decided to wander aimlessly through the bad parts of town, hoping to find some thugs to grab and pull gang locations out of.

But apparently it was a day off for the scum of the earth or something. Lots of streets with gang graffiti, lots of homeless, but no thugs. I was glad I'd had Vista grab some junk food for a quick energy break. After what felt like eons, but in actuality was probably only a half an hour, I was finally elated to hear gunshots.

Taylor flinched beside me at the sound. I'd told her I was looking for gangs, and she hadn't done more than frown, but it was natural to still be afraid.

"Don't worry, Taylor." I gave a soft, but audibly murmur. "I won't let you get hurt."

She gave me a look, one too quick for my blurry vision to understand fully—damn it, I should have tried grabbing some standard prescription glasses—but ducked her head in a wordless nod. In this case, or perhaps I should say all cases given how useful she was, I was very happy I had Vista with me, as I could actually be fairly confident in my promise with her ability at my disposal.

As we all came to the source of the gun fire, I felt a smile creep onto my face. In the middle of several alley junctions, I'd found an ideal situation.

Empire Eighty-Eight involved with a battle against the Merchants. Just from a brief glance at the trash-laden back alley, I could practically see how it came about. Some idiot drug addicts decided it was a good idea to creep a bit too far out of their territory to deal, and some idiot racist thugs took offence to that. They both clashed a few times, pushing back and forth, neither wanting to get give an inch, so they ran and whined to their bosses, leading to a couple parahumans getting involved with the spat.

And that was why there were plenty of Merchant corpses littering the cement while Hookwolf bashed one of Mush's trash creations all over while some of his thugs laughed at a few dying, groaning druggies. The few Merchants still able to run were already almost out of sight, and Mush had probably already vacated the area long ago.

That didn't matter. Mush might have been useful, but both Stormtiger and Hookwolf were present. While limited in usefulness given their short range abilities, it was still two more capes for use, and Hookwolf was very durable.

My little group hadn't been noticed yet, and the fight had just about finished. It was the perfect time to strike.

I hesitated.

I could see it, very easily, just how the battle would go. A part of me rebelled slightly at the thought. Taylor would have nodded and just went along with it, grimly satisfied in its efficiency. I wanted more. I wanted a real fight, some actual conflict. It was just too… easy.

I sighed.

While I adored conflict, I didn't want to be stupid either, and letting them have a chance would be stupid.

So, I stepped forward. One step, then another. The first put me right next to Stormtiger, and I grabbed him before he and his men could do more than give half a shout. The next step, which my new companion joined in on, brought me near Hookwolf to similar results.

Thugs though they may be, I had to give them credit in how quick they were in bringing up their firearms to aim at my group. Sadly, one of them lacked proper trigger discipline, and nervously fired on us even with his bosses still present. Well, maybe it was on purpose. Both Stormtiger and Hookwolf could probably take a bullet or two with their powers. Still, I'd already figured something like that would happen though, so only Taylor let out a yelp on my side when the bullet curved right back into the pistol's barrel, causing the whole thing to explode messily.

"Yes, it'd be a good idea for you all to run, now." I spoke over the thug's pained screams as he flailed his ruined hands.

When all of them stood still, looking stupefied, I decided to be more forceful.

"LEAVE!" Both Hookwolf and Stormtiger shouted.

"Good." I nodded to myself as they all hurriedly turned tail, two of them grabbing their injured compatriot. I needed time to plan my next move, and I didn't feel like dealing with nervous brutes at the same time. As long as I worked fast, nothing they did would matter anyway. Now that I had Hookwolf's memories, I could easily run over to Kaiser and his other friends to pull some more muscle in.

I smiled and started to do just then when half a roof fell on me. Well, to be more accurate, it was stairwell structure of a roof, a large one, and I was able to deflect it to land about ten feet away from me rather than directly on me.

Taylor screamed beside me, tumbling to the cement from the quake that shook the ground and her own surprise. I blinked, and then looked up.

"Oh." I blinked again. "Shit."

Hovering twenty feet above me was a familiar figure clad in a black and light grey uniform.

It was Alexandria. Through Stormtiger I was able to quickly detect the odor of several others in the area, likely her team, possibly more besides.

Looks like things just got very interesting.


	4. Preposition

The appearance of Alexandria and her team almost threw me in a panic before I quickly collected myself.

This wasn't bad, I told myself, quite the contrary it was very good. I was looking for more capes, and conveniently they came to me instead.

And Dragon wasn't here.

I hadn't wanted to try to grab any heroes since I hadn't had any real muscle, and attacking their home base would have been a bad idea given how they were already alerted to me. Still, it was another story if they came to me, and from the looks of it, it was just the capes. No PRT goons with that annoying containment foam. I knew from Stormtiger's memories it had a distinct odor he was well aware of.

I felt my Taylor body get lifted off my feet and flung. Using Vista, I quickly curved myself to land right back in place after a moment of extreme vertigo. I heard a woman's voice give a sharp curse, and soon spotted two capes come into view. One the female in question with a full body uniform made out of some drab grey uniform, while the other a male in a full body armor which was made out of some shiny, reflective material.

I swiftly spotted three more capes, two on the rooftops near Alexandria, the other popping out of another of the alley openings. I immediately recognized two of them. Miss Militia and Dauntless were both on the rooftop together.

Time for round two, I guess.

The solo cape was female with another drab uniform, but two odd contraptions strapped to her shoulders. There was at least two more parahumans about besides, and I was already at a disadvantage. All of these capes looked to have ranged abilities besides Alexandria, and even she could just keep throwing crap at me. Whoever the mystery capes still in hiding were, they were probably going to pop up at the most inopportune time to screw me over. I smiled. My Taylor would have hated this, the current Taylor was still in mild shock.

I loved it.

I had everyone step over to the shattered rooftop piece, dragging Taylor along me with. Stormtiger picked up some rubble and used his aerokinesis ability to throw the chunks of rock in one explosive blast after the other, first targeting the cursing female cape, then switching to everyone in sight besides Alexandria.

The reflective cape created some sort of shiny shield in front of the telekinetic that deflected the projectile, Dauntless covered for Miss Militia, and the lone female cape just plucked the rock out of the air like it was a feather.

They promptly returned fire.

I flinched as I managed to deflect some sort of bright material, rubber bullets, returned rubble, new rubble curtsey of Alexandria, and did another nauseating body loop all with Vista's ability and immediately decided I wasn't going to do that again. Three concurrent spatial warps was Vista's soft limit before things started going south. It was possible, but the pain shooting through her skull indicated that it wasn't a good idea.

Maybe when she's older.

Hookwolf quickly jumped in front of the bright object this time, and both deflecting Alexandria and Miss Militia's assault. When the solo cape, who I believe I will call Rockblocker because her ability to no-sell my projectiles was starting to get on my nerves, shot back both my rubble and a steel ball I decided to play Missile Command by having Stormtiger intercept them mid-flight with shots of his own.

This was too simplistic.

They were either waiting for me to screw, were waiting for their allies to get the drop on me, or were stalling for time for more reinforcements. None of those were particularly good for me, so I quickly decided I needed to switch things up.

The main reason why I hadn't just jumped at one of the opposing capes in the first place was I'd needed to see if any other heroes were going to immediately pop in. If Dauntless and Miss Militia were present, there was no way that Armsmaster would be left behind unless he was held under Master protocols. His pride wouldn't have been able to stand it otherwise, and even then he would probably be brooding deeply and nursing his sore ego. Given that the arrogant chump hadn't shown, I could only conclude he'd been left behind along with the other heroes I'd briefly nabbed. There was one other hero in Brockton Bay that I knew of that hadn't shown yet, though.

And it was time to lure him out.

I had Vista create two warps, gave Shadow Stalker a specific command, and then quickly had everyone else jump towards the hero duo on the street with me. With Vista's power, they were literally within my reach on the second step. As expected, they both disappeared in a flash as Velocity pulled them out of my reach.

With Vista's power, I quickly made another two warps, one near the back of my group, and the other near Rockblocker, just as Shadow Stalker grabbed her from behind. She had some sort of control of kinetic force, but the main question I had was whether or not it was a conscious action or a reactive ability.

I smiled as Rockblocker stumbled forward, not much but enough to go twenty feet forward and meet us halfway back near my ammunition pile.

"Oh shi—" As soon as I grabbed Rockblocker—Cradle—I realized how well prepared they were. Alexandria had prepped about a dozen plans depending on how they engaged us, but the main goal of any of them was to get Vista away as she was my main method of defense and escape.

The blast of concussive force that Cradle had built up as soon as she saw me jumping for Karnac and Lightshow knocked me out of my administration range, if just barely, but it was enough for Strider—why the hell was Strider even here, he's not even on Alexandria's team—to pop in, and pop out with me in his arms.

"Hey there, little missy, don't panic too much." He shouted over my screaming—I was screaming?

Why was I screaming?

I immediately widened the area between Strider's arms and dropped into a roll that took me twenty feet away from the teleporter—not that that meant a lot. Doesn't matter, I had to get back. This had so many different ways of going sideways if I didn't have my Vista ab—Oh.

Vista.

Vista.

I was Vista. Missy Biron. Eleven—and a half!—years old, one of the youngest wards around.

"Uhh…" I blinked, a feeling chill go down my spine. I was Vista. "I am Vista."

"That you are, little missy." Strider popped up beside me, looking at me with a frown. "How are you feeling? Most of the others ended up needing to be sedated since they wouldn't stop screaming."

Others? Right. The Queen Administrator had taken a lot of others, hadn't she—it?—didn't quite realize the effects of her powers.

So that's why they were screaming.

"I'm… feeling fine?" I was, actually. After a few moments of steadying myself, my own memories were beginning to reassert themselves, and… and…

I bit my lip.

"Okay, then if you're feeling up to it, I'll be taking you back to headquarters." Strider offered his hand to me, mostly in a symbolic gesture. I don't remember that well, but his teleporting skills didn't seem to be touch based in the Leviathan fight so…

So…

"Um, is it alright if just go help in the fight with Queen instead?" The words tumbled out of my mouth in a rush, causing blood to surge to my cheeks. But no, he couldn't do that, could he, he's—

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Vista. We need to keep you out of the cape's hands. Queen, you said her name was? Fits." Right, right, because I'm her main method of defense and escape, and if I wasn't there, they'd be able to pin me—I mean her—down, and once they've done that they can start whittling her down, both with the enclosed environment, and, and…

I couldn't. I couldn't think.

It should have been so easy to think of what they were going to do to Queen, not only because I glimpsed into their plans, but because it was so easy for Queen to follow along with the logic—it was just so simple.

Or, it was for Queen—for Taylor.

But not for me, not for Vista.

I'm not stupid.

I'm not stupid, I thought to myself. But it really felt like it. It felt like it when one moment I had the world at my fingertips, both figuratively and literally in some cases, and then… I didn't.

"You okay?" Strider brought my attention back, his voice full of concern.

"M-my tummy hurts." I lied. "Could we wait a little bit before going back?"

"…Alright, we can do that." Strider scratched his head, letting out a small sigh.

He was nice, even if he looked a bit put out from my childish exclamation. I would have felt bad if I wasn't busy trying to stop a panic attack.

I'm not stupid.

But if I wasn't stupid, why was it so damn hard to think? Why couldn't I figure out basic tactics? Why couldn't I use my powers right? Just a few minutes ago I had enough control to easily curve bullets back perfectly into their chambers, and simultaneously defend from three different attacks at once, yet it had been an effort _just_ to widen the area between Strider's arms and immediately roll twenty feet.

And things were just getting worse. I had been able to remember, with perfectly clarity, the events of the Leviathan attack on Brockton Bay, but now it was slipping away to only a vague notion that he's going to attack… sometime, next year? I don't even remember the date.

I'm not stupid, damn it.

I grit my teeth. Frustrating, it was so damn frustrating. I felt tears sting my eyes. God damn it, I'm not going to cry. I'm not!

It just all felt so petty. I remembered swooning over Gallant a hundred times better than anything really important, even now I felt my heartbeat speed up from thinking about him and it was just so dumb.

I wanted to do something, something that'd actually mean something, not fumble all over and make myself look even dumber than I felt.

I just felt so worthless, so damn insignificant.

_We're s-so very small, in the end._

I gasped. A tingle ran through my spine as I dimly, ever so slightly, remembered a vision of stars.

And I knew what I was going to do.

It was absolutely insane, but that was okay. It'd actually _mean_ something.

I blinked away my tears, looking around quickly. Strider was keeping a close eye on me, but I used the excuse of wiping away my tears to turn around and get a good look at where I was. Thankfully, I was familiar with the area from a few patrols I'd been brought along with, which I'd only been able to go on with because I'd begged, and a Protectorate member was along with as well. It was just a couple of blocks away from the current battle—but first I needed to incapacitate Strider, or something.

Easier said than done.

I'm sure Queen would have had a hundred different ways of being able to do it, but I had to wrack my brain for just one.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, to which Strider blinked for a second and started leaning down towards me before I warped space and kicked him as hard as I could in his crotch. I felt a ball in my stomach tighten in guilt as he screamed in pain and dropped to his side, clutching the area I'd hit.

I took a moment to debate whether I should try to bring him to Queen or not, as he rolled from side to side, still screaming, before deciding against it. I didn't have the strength to do more than pull him inch by inch, which would slow me down significantly, and more than likely give him time to recover and just teleport us to away.

So I ran. I tried as hard as I could and still only managed twenty-five feet a step, but instead of feeling frustrated, I felt secure. This was the right choice. Yes, I was giving up on shy little Missy, but that's because I was running straight towards a spectacular new Vista. I wasn't going to be just the girl who sat at the com station, or came along on patrol like a leech.

I was going to be a part of something vast—something as big and bright as the stars in the sky.

I heard the crash of rock and thundering bangs of gun shots as I neared the battle, which had spilled into the street outside the alley. A few of the surrounding, dilapidated buildings had been reduced to rubble from the fighting, and Miss Militia and Dauntless had been forced off the rooftops. I saw Stormtiger on the ground, being dragged by Shadow Stalker as Cradle jumped to and fro, spinning while deflecting bullets and shooting rocks to her former allies like some sort of crazed ballerina.

All of them saw me as I literally leapt the last step into the very middle of Queen's group.

"I'm back," I said with a smile as Queen eagerly grasped me with her administration once more.


End file.
